Stupid ?????

To all you techies..I admit..I'm stupid and behind the times...So please
bare with me...
1) which HDTV is better LCD or Plasma ?
....
2)someone told me besides my cable connection I need a designated
phoneline also? That dosen't seem correct..but again what do I know?
.....
3) would a regualr DVD recorder be able to record an HDTV show?Or do I
need to rent a DVR, from the cable company?
Thank you all so much for your time...
EMAIL,OK...J

"O000 O0000" wrote in message
...
To all you techies..I admit..I'm stupid and behind the times...So please
bare with me...
1) which HDTV is better LCD or Plasma ?

Haven't had much experience with plasmas, but I understand the blacks are
much better on plasma. As to LCDs -- I've tried them and prefer Samsung's
DLP TVs. Truer colors.

2)someone told me besides my cable connection I need a designated
phoneline also? That dosen't seem correct..but again what do I know?

I believe you need the phoneline for Tivo boxes. But if you get a cable box
from your cable co. instead of buying a Tivo box you have no need for the
phoneline at all insofar as the TV is concerned.

3) would a regualr DVD recorder be able to record an HDTV show?Or do I
need to rent a DVR, from the cable company?

I know you can buy DVRs that record HD, but don't think there are DVD
recorders out there that do it yet. If you buy a HD DVR you'd be able to
record HD that comes OTA (through an antenna) (be prepared to spend a few
hundred bucks extra to get a HD DVR.) But you couldn't record HD from
through the cable co. You'd have to rent their HD DVR box to record though
cable -- the signals are scrambled.

On Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:32:32 -0400, O000 O0000 wrote:

To all you techies..I admit..I'm stupid and behind the times...So please
bare with me...
1) which HDTV is better LCD or Plasma ?
...
A matter of opinion.

2)someone told me besides my cable connection I need a designated
phoneline also? That dosen't seem correct..but again what do I know?
....
You don't even need a cable connection. There's plenty of free OTA HDTV
programs.

3) would a regualr DVD recorder be able to record an HDTV show?

yes, but not in HD.

Or do I need to rent a DVR, from the cable company?

No, yes, depends.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

"O000 O0000" wrote in message
...
To all you techies..I admit..I'm stupid and behind the times...So please
bare with me...
1) which HDTV is better LCD or Plasma ?

========================
Usually, Plasma
=========================
...
2)someone told me besides my cable connection I need a designated
phoneline also? That dosen't seem correct..but again what do I know?
...
===========================
You don't even need cable - just use an antenna
===========================
..
3) would a regualr DVD recorder be able to record an HDTV show?Or do I
need to rent a DVR, from the cable company?

===========================
It would record it in 480i.
==========================

Thank you all so much for your time...
EMAIL,OK...J

"Wes Newell" wrote in message
news:0o%[email protected]
....
You don't even need a cable connection. There's plenty of free OTA HDTV
programs.
--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm


This depends on where this person lives. Not everyone lives close enough to
receive OTA HDTV. I can barely get 3 analog stations where I live. And
the
reception is terrible with them. Therefore, I use Satillite for HD. I can
get free HD
programming (very limited) from PBS and then a lot of sports feeds on C band
and Ku band.
I am using a P4 computer with a $60 pci Sat card with a freeware program
called DVB Dream.
Also using a 10' mesh dish and a 33" Ku band dish & motor. I may even break
down and get
a sub from Direct TV again just for the HD they have.
james

"O000 O0000" wrote

1) which HDTV is better LCD or Plasma ?

You don't say what size you're thinking of, but if it's 50 inches or above,
personally I think that rear-projection currently gives the best combination
of image quality and price for the buck, even considering the cost of
replacement lamps.

On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:35:28 +0000, james wrote:


"Wes Newell" wrote in message
news:0o%[email protected]
....
You don't even need a cable connection. There's plenty of free OTA HDTV
programs.

This depends on where this person lives. Not everyone lives close enough to
receive OTA HDTV. I can barely get 3 analog stations where I live. And
the reception is terrible with them.

This is the exact reason I switched to ATSC over a year ago. I can't get
any analog channel under 8 clear here either. That's Fox, NBC, and
one PBS station. However, all atsc stations are crysal clear. Getting HD
with them was really just a big plus.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm

"Wes Newell" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
On Wed, 21 Mar 2007 14:35:28 +0000, james wrote:


"Wes Newell" wrote in message
news:0o%[email protected]
....
You don't even need a cable connection. There's plenty of free OTA HDTV
programs.

This depends on where this person lives. Not everyone lives close enough
to
receive OTA HDTV. I can barely get 3 analog stations where I live. And
the reception is terrible with them.

This is the exact reason I switched to ATSC over a year ago. I can't get
any analog channel under 8 clear here either. That's Fox, NBC, and
one PBS station. However, all atsc stations are crysal clear. Getting HD
with them was really just a big plus.

--
Want the ultimate in free OTA SD/HDTV Recorder? http://mythtv.org
http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html Usenet alt.video.ptv.mythtv
My server http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/cpu.php
HD Tivo S3 compared http://wesnewell.no-ip.com/mythtivo.htm


Guess, I'll give ATSC a try again. Antenna.org barely shows the 3 analog
channels
I can get and no digital at all. I tried it on a friends tv (lives nearby)
and we could not
get any digital on his either. He has a fairly large uhf/vhf antenna in his
attic and a booster
with it and could only get the three channels I do. They were better with
the booster (mine is
without the booster, otherwise, we have the same attic setup) but, only a
little.
Who knows, maybe they have boosted the power output since we tried that
last!!
james

james wrote:

Guess, I'll give ATSC a try again. Antenna.org barely shows the 3 analog
channels
I can get and no digital at all. I tried it on a friends tv (lives nearby)
and we could not
get any digital on his either. He has a fairly large uhf/vhf antenna in his
attic and a booster
with it and could only get the three channels I do. They were better with
the booster (mine is
without the booster, otherwise, we have the same attic setup) but, only a
little.
Who knows, maybe they have boosted the power output since we tried that
last!!
james

If you post your zip code and some description of where you live -
single family house or condo/apartment, down in a valley or next to a
mountain or at a higher elevation - I can look up what digital stations
you might be able to get. There are a lot of resources on the net with
the FCC database, the local area threads at avsforum.com, even wikipedia
entries for local stations, that can be used to figure which stations
are at full power digitally. There are quite a few more full power
digital stations than a year ago, but still are some that are not.
Translators for the remote areas are almost all still analog and will be
until they do a digital flash cut conversion, most likely in February, 2009.

Alan F

76066
I am about 90 miles or so from the main stations in the Dallas Ft.Worth
area. I actually live
in a rural area. There are small hills between me and the location of the
transmitters. I used to
live about 20 miles east of here and had decent OTA reception for several
more analog channels from
DFW.
I didn't know there were other database sites other than antenna.org that
had info on digital and analog
OTA stations.
james

"Alan F" wrote in message
news:[email protected]
james wrote:

Guess, I'll give ATSC a try again. Antenna.org barely shows the 3 analog
channels
I can get and no digital at all. I tried it on a friends tv (lives
nearby) and we could not
get any digital on his either. He has a fairly large uhf/vhf antenna in
his attic and a booster
with it and could only get the three channels I do. They were better with
the booster (mine is
without the booster, otherwise, we have the same attic setup) but, only a
little.
Who knows, maybe they have boosted the power output since we tried that
last!!
james

If you post your zip code and some description of where you live -
single family house or condo/apartment, down in a valley or next to a
mountain or at a higher elevation - I can look up what digital stations
you might be able to get. There are a lot of resources on the net with
the FCC database, the local area threads at avsforum.com, even wikipedia
entries for local stations, that can be used to figure which stations
are at full power digitally. There are quite a few more full power
digital stations than a year ago, but still are some that are not.
Translators for the remote areas are almost all still analog and will be
until they do a digital flash cut conversion, most likely in February,
2009.

Alan F